No joint in the body gets sprained as often as ankles do, and the fact that they’re the one between your lower leg and foot means that is not surprising. With any type of vigorous physical exertion, the ankle is going to be bearing the brunt of a lot of force. If it takes that force while turned the wrong way slightly you can end up with a sprained ankle. That’s going to be a painful problem and you’ll be on the sidelines for more than a few weeks. But it’s not a serious health like a blood clot, and this leads to can a sprained ankle cause a blood clot. 

Blood does clot if there’s a skin wound, but it also may clot if there’s extensive internal bleeding to prevent blood from welling out into the tissue of the body. A 3^rd-degree sprain where there is a very large amount of torque exerted on the joint can cause internal bleeding, and so blood may clot because of an ankle sprain. But like any blood clot it only becomes a problem if it starts to move through the bloodstream and potentially towards organs like the heart, lungs, or brain. Then you’ve got a very real potential problem.  

So, this is why people may ask can a sprained ankle cause blood clots. Especially if they’ve just sprained one, and they have had issues with blood clots before. Blood clots can also be the cause of deep vein thrombosis, although you’re not going to have elevated chances of heart attack or stroke if you have blood clots in your legs with DVT. If after a sprained ankle you see the telltale purple skin discoloration that indicates internal bleeding then you may want to talk to your doctor about the chance of clots if you’ve had them previously.  

Caution with Casts  

Continuing this look at can a sprained ankle cause a blood clot, it’s good that people be aware the chance of it is increased even more if you end up in a cast because it’s a high ankle sprain. These sprains are worse, and putting the sufferer in a cast from the shin down to the foot to immobilize the joint is a common approach for treatment. Over time that immobilization means less blood flow, and this can increase the chance of a clot starting too.  

This really doesn’t need to be a big cause for concern though. The most likely outcome of sprain as it relates to your blood is developing superficial thrombophlebitis, which is when the clot is only affecting veins near the skin surface. People will usually get DVT because of an ankle sprain a whole lot more regularly than they do an embolism or something a lot more serious, and that’s good if you’re wondering can you get a blood clot from a sprained ankle. It is possible, but usually not the types of serious clots that may endanger organs in the body if clots make their way into them.